John Mason
|affiliation =British Army |profession = Special Air Services (SAS, retired) |children = Jade Angelou (daughter) |marital = Single |status = Alive |actor = Sean Connery |film = The Rock |residence = Glasgow, Scotland (formerly)|rank = Captain}} John Mason is a former SAS Captain and MI6 agent turned prisoner. He is one of the two main protagonists of The Rock, along with Stanley Goodspeed. The Rock After a group of rogue U.S. Force Recon Marines seize Alcatraz Island and steal chemical weapons, The Pentagon and the FBI develop a plan to retake the island with a U.S. Navy SEAL team, enlisting the FBI's top chemical weapons specialist, Dr. Stanley Goodspeed to come along. The FBI is then forced to turn to federal prisoner John Mason, a 60 year old British national who has been illegally detained for three decades by Womack and his predecessors for reasons which Womack refuses to specify. Mason's usefulness is due to him being the only Alcatraz inmate ever to successfully escape the island, doing so in 1963 through the prison's uncharted underground tunnels. Although Goodspeed manages to convince Mason to cooperate with the FBI in return for a pardon from FBI Director James Womack privately reneges on the deal. While in custody at a hotel, Mason takes Womack hostage and then flees. He steals a Hummer H1 and Goodspeed pursues in a commandeered Ferrari F355, resulting in a wild high speed chase through the streets. Mason seeks out his estranged daughter Jade, who is the only proof that he exists. Goodspeed soon arrives with a team to re-arrest Mason and reveals to Jade that he is aiding the FBI. Womack is adamant that Mason should only consult the SEALs, confiding to Special Agent Ernest Paxton that he does not want Mason loose. However, as Mason has committed his route through the tunnels to memory, Womack has no choice but to let him accompany the SEALs. The team infiltrates Alcatraz through the underground tunnels with Mason's guidance. However, Hummel's Marines are alerted to their presence and ambush them in a shower room. SEAL Commander Anderson refuses to surrender and Captains Frye and Darrow provoke a gunfight, in which all the SEALs are killed, leaving only Mason and Goodspeed alive. Mason sees his chance to escape custody and easily disarms Goodspeed. However, Goodspeed convinces him to help defuse the rockets, since Mason's daughter is also at risk from them. Back on the mainland, Paxton demands to know exactly who Mason is. Womack finally reveals that Mason was a highly-trained British MI6 agent and SAS Captain who stole a microfilm containing details of the US's most closely guarded secrets, including the Roswell UFO incident and the JFK assassination, refused to give it up when captured, and has thus been illegally held prisoner ever since. Using Mason's knowledge of the prison and proficiency in combat, he and Goodspeed quietly eliminate several small teams of Marines and disable 12 of the 15 rockets. Hummel is so enraged that he threatens over the loudspeaker to execute a hostage if the remaining "Navy SEALs" do not surrender and return the guidance chips from the rockets. Mason surrenders to Hummel, trying to buy Goodspeed some time. Though Goodspeed disables another rocket, the Marines capture him shortly thereafter. With the incursion team lost, the military gives a go ahead to their backup plan: an air strike by F/A-18s with Thermite plasma, which will neutralize the poison gas but also kill everyone on the island including the hostages. After Mason releases them both from their cells, he explains to Goodspeed why he was held prisoner for so many years and adds that he did not return the microfilm because he knew the FBI would "suicide" him if he did. While Goodspeed and Mason search for the final two rockets, Hummel fires one of them but changes the coordinates at the last moment, causing it to crash harmlessly out to sea. Facing Frye and Darrow's frustration, Hummel explains that their bluff failed and that he is unwilling to harm innocent civilians. He orders them to exit Alcatraz with a few hostages and the remaining VX rockets to cover their retreat, while he'll stay, personally assuming blame. Realizing that they will not be paid their $1 million apiece, Frye, Darrow and Sergeant Crisp mutiny against Hummel and his second-in-command, Major Tom Baxter. With Mason and Goodspeed watching from afar, Crisp attempts to secure Hummel on Darrow's orders, but Hummel draws his own gun and holds Crisp at gunpoint. Baxter also appears to side against Hummel but then fires at the three rogues. In the ensuing firefight, Crisp and Baxter are killed while Hummel is mortally wounded. Mason drags him away and with his last breath, Hummel tells Goodspeed the location of the final rocket. Darrow and Frye escape and proceed with the plan to fire on San Francisco. While Goodspeed deals with the last rocket, Mason deals with the remaining marines. As the jets approach, Private McCoy fires at Goodspeed with the M60E3 machine gun and attempted to take him out with the LAR Grizzly Big-Boar rifle, but Mason picks up the M60E3 and knocks McCoy off the roof with it. As Mason searched around Alcatraz, he was attacked by Private Cox. After Mason pushed Cox's gun down the well, Cox hits him repeatedly and says to Mason that his father was Irish. After Cox punches into a pipe, injuring his hand, Mason pushes him down and wraps a chain on Cox's neck. After Mason puts a hook on the heavy wheel pull chain, he pushed it down the drain, straggling Cox on to it. Mason takes Cox's radio as he leaves Cox behind. Mason reappears to pull the unconscious Goodspeed to shore. When he recovers, Goodspeed tells Mason that Womack tore up his pardon and informs his superiors that Mason was killed. Goodspeed tells Mason to go to his hotel room, take a change of clothes and $200 he stashed and run. Mason thanks Goodspeed, and gives him a note that holds the location of where he had stashed the microfilm. Womack arrives wanting to see Mason's body, but Goodspeed and Paxton say it was "vaporized" by the thermite plasma. Kills on The Rock *Private Scarpetti - Throws knife into Scarpetti's neck *Private Gamble - Shoots in foot, then shoots container down onto Gamble's head, crushing him. *Captain Hendrix - Sets feet on fire, then sends him to the water. *Sergeant Rojas - Pushes into the rocky waterfall. *Hummel Marine C - Breaks his neck. *Private McCoy - Pushes him off a roof. *Private Cox - Strangles him with chains. Trivia *A popular fan theory suggests Mason is actually the real name of James Bond. Category:Heroes Category:Antihero Category:Characters Category:The Rock characters Category:Characters with military experience Category:Male characters Category:Characters played by Sean Connery Category:Spies Category:Characters with the first name "John" Category:Quentin Tarantino movie characters